A bad loss

As good as last week’s 17-10 overtime win was against Northwestern, the 28-9 loss to Wisconsin was a bad one.
Missed opportunities, interceptions, breakdowns in the defensive backfield (again) and Jake Rudock getting hurt.
One of the nice things about this time of year is if the Hawkeye football team loses, I can watch men’s and women’s basketball, like I did last Sunday, and get that losing taste out of my mouth.
I haven’t done the good, the bad and the ugly this year so…
Starting with the good, how about Jordan Canzeri, the redshirt sophomore running back.
Can you believe this? Last year, Iowa barely had two running backs... this year, they have four and all of them do different things well.
Jordan might be the most explosive and fastest of the four as he showed on his 43-yard run in the second half.

The Good

Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock were held in check all afternoon as they combined for 21 yards on 15 carries.
Don Shumpert and Tevaun Smith had a couple of nice catches while Damond Powell led the wide receivers with three catches.
The Iowa defense in the first half held the Badgers in check for 29 plays. That would be great except the Badgers ran 30 plays... one for a 44-yard touchdown pass.
Mike Meyer was 3-3 on field goals on a windy day and Connor Kornbrath averaged 41 yards on seven punts.
James Morris led the defense with 12 tackles, a sack and two tackles for a loss.
Two of my homeboys from my hometown of Moville, Iowa, were on an official recruiting visit. The Paulson twins, Landon and Levi, have been offered scholarships to play football for the Hawks. They both check in at around 6-6, 275 and have just finished their junior season in football.
Both of them wrestle, play baseball, are out for track and are good students.
I’ve known the two since I spoke to their class when they were in third grade. They grew up Iowa fans so hopefully they will come on board and join the Hawkeyes.

The Bad

You have to start with Jake Rudock getting hurt in the second half.
Jake finished the game 12-24 for 109 yards and an interception. He hurt his knee on the play, but is expected to be back this weekend against Purdue.
C.J. Beathard came in and went 4-16 for 70 yards and an interception.
C.J. has a stronger arm than Jake but I think Jake makes better decisions and that’s why he’s starting.
The bad would include Iowa’s offense only coming up with nine points, including three in the second half.
You’d have to include dropped passes with The Bad. The Hawks dropped at least four passes. All of them would have made first downs.

The Ugly

I will start the ugly with the two interceptions.
The first one Jake threw he was under pressure and threw it into double coverage to C. J. Fiedorowicz.
Wisconsin scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass on the very next play.
The ugly would include Iowa converting only 4-18 on third downs. Wisconsin had the ball for 32 minutes, Iowa 28.
I’d also have to put in Iowa’s offense, which couldn’t capitalize on great field position and only had 14 first downs.
The Hawkeyes have three games left, with two on the road. They are sitting at 5-4, 2-3 in the Big Ten.
They need to win one more game to go bowling.
Iowa could win all three or lose all three…